Duet
by SaccharineGray
Summary: In which team 7 is a string quartet, and music is the only way to get Sasuke to open up.


Sakura slammed her locker shut in a huff, grabbed her viola case off the floor, and sprinted.

She was already late to quartet practice and Kakashi was going to have her soul. She could help that her friends cornered her to talk after school! And her locker was on the other side of the whole school!

Sakura ran as fast as she could through the halls of Konoha High, her skirt flying behind her. Out of breath, she arrived in the music hallway and hurriedly pushed open the practice room's door.

Naruto waved cheerfully at her. "Hi, Sakura!"

Sakura huffed in disbelief. "Kakashi's not here?"

"Nope!"

Sakura groaned and slid down against the wall, putting her viola case down. "I don't know why I even bother getting here. He's always late…"

"Let's just start without him, then," said Sasuke from the corner, where he was rosining his bow. He gracefully picked up his violin and sheet music, sitting down in the first violinist's chair. He would just sightread Kakashi's part. He knew it well enough from looking at the score. Sakura knew Sasuke was one of the best sight readers she had ever met, and the piece wasn't that difficult. Naruto was already seated, baseball cap on his head and cello in between his legs. Sakura sat down next to Naruto and looked over to Sasuke.

Of course, Naruto completely failed to take Sasuke's cue and they had to start over. "Idiot, _watch_ me!" Sasuke hissed. Naruto grumbled, but got it right this time, laying down an effective bass line to keep them in tempo. Sasuke's nimble fingers flew up and down the fingerboard, executing complex shifts and trills like they were nothing, with a tight vibrato the whole time. Sakura kept them mediated with her viola, playing low harmonies with each of them. The piece was a bit empty without the second violin—Sakura usually had many harmonies with Sasuke, but now that he was playing Kakashi's part it wasn't easy to hear where to come in relative to him.

Sakura always followed Sasuke's head, even when she was supposed to be the soloist, and Kakashi often scolded her for it. She couldn't help it. He was so perfect and impeccably commanding. When they, the inner voices, had a harmony, Sakura felt like she was in heaven, impossibly connected to the seemingly unreachable Sasuke.

They continued through the piece as best they could until Naruto completely failed to come in. Sasuke abruptly stopped and Sakura played a few more notes before she realized something was wrong. Naruto sheepishly scratched his head. "Sorry! You both know counting isn't my thing, and I can't hear so well without Kakashi!"

"Well, I'm here to save the day!" a voice said brightly from the doorway.

Naruto and Sasuke threw their rosin cases at Kakashi, wearing his surgical mask as always. "You're late!" screeched Naruto.

"Sorry, I was helping an old lady cross the hallway!"

"Liar!" Sakura pouted.

Kakashi frowned at Sasuke. "Sasuke, what are you doing in my seat? Get back to second violin." Sasuke glared at him for a moment. "You're good, but you haven't surpassed me, so get in that chair."

Grudgingly, Sasuke moved.

Outside, it started to rain and thunder quietly rolled through the parking lot of the school outside. Sakura winced, knowing that walking home was going to be hell, but she didn't say anything.

They raised their instruments, watched Kakashi's stern cue, and played.

Two lines in, Kakashi stopped—"Sakura, play up a bit! I can barely hear you. Naruto, you're rushing. And Sasuke? I'M the first violinist, so stop showing off until it's solo time!" he sighed. "Okay, pickup to bar 23. Go."

In bar 30, Sasuke and Sakura had a little duet, a perfect harmony grounded down by Naruto's steady quarter notes. They started to get to the part, and—"Stop. Sasuke, Sakura, act less like you hate each other. Make eye contact or something. Lean towards each other, I don't care, but you have harmonies! Act like it!"

Ack. This happened every time, and it was extremely awkward every time. They started again, and Sakura winced as she leaned toward Sasuke and accidentally hit a wrong note when his eyes met hers. She shifted her gaze to his fingers, hoping to dispel the tension and still be able to keep rhythm. Just out of curiosity, though, the swept her eyes up one more time. Sasuke was still looking at her, and his lips quirked into the tiniest smirk. Sakura hit another wrong note. Kakashi stopped them. "Okay, now lean AND play the right notes, Sakura! Your G is always a little bit sharp. And you need to be louder. Don't let Sasuke outperform you—you need to be together! Just you two, play. Naruto, sit out."

Sakura was sure her blush was blinding at this point, but she tried it again. She managed to force her gaze up to Sasuke's coal black irises and the way his bangs swayed with every movement of his head. She played up a bit, enjoying how perfectly the notes blended, with the mellow notes of the viola and the dramatically high tones of the violin. She started to relax, absorbed in the music and his eyes. It was…_intimate. _Close. Sakura felt like she was the luckiest girl ever to be chosen for this quartet. Most girls would have killed to be near Sasuke. She tried to keep her feelings at bay because it was not beneficial to have unrequited love in the quartet, but the connection here was bringing back everything that she'd left. Their bows moved in unison as the rhythm quickened to sixteenth notes, and there was just a bead of sweat on Sasuke's brow. They leaned in and out from each other, almost like a dance, as they played. They reached the end of their duet phrase and hit the last note with perfection, watching Sasuke's bow for the perfect fade out.

Panting a bit, they both looked at Kakashi.

Sakura was pretty sure that under Kakashi's mask, he was slack-jawed, but his eyes remained cool and emotionless. After a moment, Kakashi said, "Well, that was better. Now, Naruto, your problem at bar 18…"

For the rest of the practice, Sakura avoided Sasuke's gaze. She'd felt shaken by that intensity in his look, like she was looking right into his soul through music. Sasuke never opened up to anyone, and the only emotion he displayed was for music. She was in awe of what she saw. Girls fell in love with Sasuke because he was cool, apathetic, and mysterious, but when Sakura looked into his eyes he was so much more than that.

After practice, Sakura packed up her viola. Naruto asked her out on a date, just like after every practice, and Sakura gave him a hug and gently rejected him, pointing out Hinata coming out of the band room with her flute. She walked out the front entrance of the school and eyed the rain miserably.

Sighing, she figured that staring at the rain wouldn't stop it, so she stepped out, soaked within ten seconds. She started walking home.

A minute later, the rain stopped.

Actually, it didn't. It was raining but she wasn't getting wet. Somebody was holding an umbrella over her head. She turned around slowly. "Sasuke?"

"If you walk home in this weather, you'll get sick. Then we can't practice tomorrow," Sasuke said, his hair over his eyes. "Why didn't you bring an umbrella?"

"Uh, well…I lent mine to Ino yesterday, so. I couldn't bring it." Sakura mumbled.

Sasuke let out a "Hn" like this was a huge bother to him, and said, "Well, in that case, I'll walk you home so the viola doesn't get damaged."

"O—OK," Sakura stammered. She started walking toward her house, and Sasuke fell into step to her right. "It's a pretty long walk, though, are you sure?"

"Aa," Sasuke affirmed briefly, with no explanation. Sakura snuck a glance up at his head—and she had to crane her neck, since he was half a foot taller than her. The water was flowing off the right side of the umbrella so that his right shoulder was soaked, but he didn't seem to care. His violin case was top-notch, so there was little worry about his violin being damaged, but Sakura's viola case was cloth and it was torn in some places. Sasuke definitely seemed to be holding the umbrella more over her than him, with water dripping down his nose, but Sakura didn't dare challenge such an act from Sasuke, who usually didn't show a shard of affection.

They walked in uncomfortable silence for ten minutes before Sasuke said, "You played well today."

Sakura ducked her head so he wouldn't see how red her cheeks were. "Oh—I—thank you. You were fantastic as always." Sasuke smirked.

"How many hours do you practice a day?" the way he asked made it sound like he practiced _multiple _hours. Oh god!

"Just one," Sakura replied in a small voice. He seemed surprise.

"Just one hour and you're that good? You must have natural talent."

"Don't talk to me about natural talent when I'm in the same quartet as you!" Sakura bit out. "Every time your bow hits the string it's like angels coming down from heaven to sing in a choir while even the devil comes up from hell to listen. You completely outshine us. You could be performing in the Philharmonic!"

Sasuke snorted. "You flatter me, Sakura. Compared to my brother, I'm nothing." He seemed _upset. _

"Your brother?" Sakura asked.

"You know the chamber group Akatsuki?" Sakura's jaw dropped. Who didn't? They were the ultimate chamber group in the nation filled with some of the most talented players ever, rivaled only by the Kage group. Naruto's father was a part of Kage. Sakura watched Akatsuki because they were talented young players. _And good looking. Especially the first violinist, _a traitorous part of her added. Sakura was just smushing it when Sasuke continued, "My brother is the first violinist."

Sakura gagged. He should have known the silky-haired, delicate-faced, nimble-fingered musician would be related to Sasuke! Those kind of good looks only traveled in families. Sakura blushed even deeper than she was. Then she realized what Sasuke's problem was.

"So, what, you feel like he's always outshining you?"

"My parents favor him," Sasuke said distantly.

"I doubt it. Parents don't favor any one of their children."

"You don't know my family."

"I know _you._"

"So?"

"I know you, and I don't think it should matter if anybody is better than you, because something like music shouldn't be about competition. It's about passion. And I think you have that, maybe more than Itachi. That's what I think. Because…" she smiled sadly. "I guess music is your only passion."

"It's not," said Sasuke. "I like the classical music I play, but I also like metal. I like cold winter days. I like tomatoes. I like—" He seemed to realize he was rambling, and trailed off.

Sakura felt like she was treading in Sasuke's mind. He never opened up. _Never. _None of his fanclub back at school would have believed it. Most of them would have lost interest now that Sasuke was less of a mystery. Instead, Sakura found herself more and more intrigued.

Sasuke's hair was flattened from the rain, and water crawled down his face such that it looked like he was having a shower. Clothed.

"My point is, Sasuke…you are good enough. You are _more _than good enough." Sakura hoped her blush wasn't visible. "Being able to play with you is just…really an honor."

"I'm glad," Sasuke said after a moment, "That it was you they put in the quartet and not the likes of Karin or Ino."

Sakura thought she was going to faint. A legitimate compliment. "I'm not technically better than them! Ino has a really good trill, and Karin's intonation in upper positions is—"

"It's not that. You…understand the music. The flow of the quartet. And you don't collapse all over me the moment you see me, which is a relief."

"They'd stop if you got a girlfriend," Sakura pointed out, secretly screaming _Don't you dare!_

"It should be you, then," Sasuke said offhandedly.

"Wha—"

"You don't annoy the hell out of me. You're a good violist. You're smart. And you…get it." He smirked. "And I like your forehead."

Sakura growled and hit him with her viola case.

"So? Want to be my girlfriend?"

Thunder rumbled in the distance and the wind picked up, the sky darkening even more. Sakura glanced uneasily at the sky. Suddenly, the umbrella ripped, becoming effectively useless. Great. Just great. Sheets of rain slapped Sakura in the face and she shivered. Sasuke yelled over the storm, "Come on, my house is just a block away!" He grabbed her wrist, tugging her along at a fast run. Sasuke was a good athlete—Sakura was not. She was panting by the time they turned onto an unfamiliar street and got to the third house on the left. Sasuke raised a hand to pound on the door, but Sakura grabbed it and shouted over the screaming wind,

"Yes! I do!"

Holy crap. Sasuke could _smile? _

This guy was just full of surprises.


End file.
